I have no idea what prompted this urge to knit a beautiful red dress for Valentines for my delightful god daughter. Was it the rush of god motherly love that I so often feel for her? Was it the desire to play at dressing a girl?, real life baby girls are So much better than dolls. Or was it simply that I wished to play with red wool? Who knows, but what I do know is one moment I was happily knitting my spring cardigan, and the next I was knee deep in stash where hubby surprised me and saw my happy face as I had just found the required red aran I was looking for.

Next was to find a pattern that would suit and have I told you recently just how much I love Ravelry. Another happy hour was spent critiquing the dresses until I found the perfect one. Golden Rose Baby Sundress by Wendi Dunlap or if your are a member here is the link in Ravelry
As soon as I saw this beautiful dress I knew it was perfect for Miss Kitty.

So I started to knit and knit and knit and the wonderful aspect of this dress is that it has a very full skirt which I love which is then gathered together just under the bodice to form soft gentle folds. I was quite tempted to make a petticoat of many layers to fluff out the skirt but not knowing Kitty’s exact waist measurement it might have been a bit tricky. I’d finished one half of the dress which I had lengthened by one inch as Kitty is long for her age, and was quite happy with it, until I happened to meet Kitty and her Mum unexpectedly for coffee and realised with shock and just a little bit of horror just how much Kitty had grown.

Using my hand as a measuring guide, (I have a near perfect eight inch span which is useful) as well as Carie’s beautiful dress for Kitty she had just completed and happened to be with her realised that my dress would only just cover Kitty’s bottom! which would never do. So I undid the top added another two inches to the skirt, which means it is three inches longer than it should be! (did I tell you she has very tall parents) and carried on.

Five balls of Aran Cashsoft by Rowan in Poppy 10 later, you have this.

A pretty red Pinafore for Valentines day.

There are some nice details to this dress. Simple but effective moss stitch,

and pretty lace at the bottom of the skirt.

Kitty modeling her dress, assisted by Daddy and staring happily at Mummy.

But Mummy being a clever blogger too, knew that I was after a shot with Kitty smiling at the camera. Mummy is on the move,

and Kitty is really not sure what is happening. “Where is Mummy going?”

“Oh, there she is” as Mummy is stood behind me.

“That’s my Mummy, she smells of milk, I like milk”

“And I like snuggling into Daddy”

“And I think I quite like this dress”